KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A man convicted of killing a 4-year-old girl then smoking meth with the girl’s mother will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Matthew Longenecker was given the mandatory life sentence in the death of Desaray Thompson, 4, who died in July 2017 by asphyxiation. He was also sentenced to another 23 to 50 years for child abuse.
The girl’s mother, Kelly Ballinger, was sentenced last week to five to 15 years in prison for Involuntary Manslaughter and 21 to 50 years for child abuse in Thompson’s death.
Investigators said that Ballinger and Longenecker duct-taped Thompson and wrapped her head in a blanket to get her to go to sleep while they smoked meth in a nearby room. Thompson suffocated and died.
